


0

by GENM (ERASAMA)



Category: Kamen Rider - All Media Types, Kamen Rider Ex-Aid
Genre: A few bits of dialogue are used in a different language, Experimental Style, Inspired by 0equals written by Jundao793 on LOFTER, M/M, Spoilers for Genm vs Lazer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-14 07:34:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29167383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ERASAMA/pseuds/GENM
Summary: we all begin at ‘nothing’, we all end and become ‘nothing’0; the source, the root, the start, and end - everything at its purest form is 0.
Relationships: Dan Kuroto/Kujou Kiriya
Kudos: 5





	0

  
  


“Dan Kuroto is dead,” the tone in the coroner’s voice did not tremble, the fear of seeing a dead man in front of him was non-existent.

In his life, he has seen everything; he has felt everything.

Happiness, sadness, rage, love; life, and death. 

Even after being reverted back to his human form, being in the presence of a ghost meant nothing to him, the only thing he felt was the need to question the phantom that loomed in the darkness of a room he didn’t remember how he got to in the first place.

The interior was cold, the two men were backed against concrete walls, the sides of the room were draped in darkness, what existed beyond the darkness was unknown to them. A lone light that hung from the ceiling illuminated what little space was between them, it couldn’t be more than five feet that occupied the empty space.

“So then, who could this traveling impostor be?”

The phantom couldn’t help but laugh, “I know you are smarter than this.”

“I saw you die that day, in the rain.”

Rainfall was something of a constant reminder to the coroner, a reminder of death and life.

Even after years of surviving a tumultuous clash between a man and a God, when it rains, everything comes flooding back.

The melancholic weather brings him back to a time where he was younger, more headstrong and deceptive, a passionate fire burned within him at that time, the kind that could not be extinguished even by the heaviest storm. The life within him persisted even after death, the goal ahead of him was still a bright, shining pillar; the kind of brightness that shone with as much intensity as his fiery passion did.

Two opposing threats destined to engulf each other in the heat of their own temper, two unlikely paths converging into each other, like two stars forced to collide into one another because gravity demanded their destruction, and in their next life, they reincarnate as human beings that repeat the same fate; even after death, the tremors of their collision were sustained.

But what happens when only one of them survives? The other will always find a way to come back and continue the endless circle of battle. As a snake devours itself infinitely, as the sun continues to rise after the moon sets, as life continues after death, the circle will continue.

Who knows how many times the circle of life and death between two people bound by an inseparable fate has come around in full? Just when it seems to all be over, it resets, bringing them back to zero.

“Zero,” the coroner’s eyes remain on the other man’s piercing grin, “That was the number of lives you had back then. So, how?”

How was Dan Kuroto still alive?

  
  


_ It’s simple. _

_ Zero isn’t merely an empty number, it isn’t just the end; it symbolizes a new beginning, the root, the origin. _

_ In the end, I become nothing, _

_ returning to the purest form of “nought”; _

_ and I will begin anew, returning to our purest form; _

_ we end as nothing just as we begin as nothing. _

“You’d better not be up to anything malicious, God.”

“I’ve long since abandoned that title.”

_ Now, I am merely Dan Kuroto. _

“Tell me then, Dan Kuroto,

what do you plan on doing?”

“Who knows? I definitely don’t.”

“Stop playing games with me.”

He bursts out in laughter, footsteps echo throughout the unknown place as he approaches the helpless coroner on the opposite side of the room.

“Isn’t that what we’ve always been doing though?”

_ This always has been a game between you and I, _

_ Kujo Kiriya. _

_ Doesn’t it feel like a game? _

_ You are the player whose goal is to defeat the boss, _

_ over and over and over and over and over and over and over again; _

_ until your lungs collapse, until your bones break, until your throat bleeds, _

_ until death rips us apart and brings us together again. _

_ Wouldn’t you agree? _

The coroner falls silent.

He is tense as the words from Dan Kuroto’s mouth gently whisper into his ear, there was no breath exuding from his mouth, but there was no distance between the two men. It was enough to make the coroner feel anxious from the intimacy.

Kuroto didn’t need Kiriya’s response, the lack of which only confirms what he already knew. He knew how much the other man valued the intertwining fate that was shared between two unlikely people. A coroner and a game developer, two professions that shared nothing in common, and yet their paths crossed so simply, and then they end up here.

“Where are we, then?”

“This place?”

_ This place. _

_ This place was the center of the universe, the center of all things. And we are trapped in it. _

Is it real?

Is it an illusion?

Is this all a dream?

_ A dream… _

You’d know a lot about dreams, wouldn’t you, 幻梦？

_ 「九条 贵利矢， _

_ 如何你现在在梦游里， _

_ 你想不相信我的存在？」 _

「在雨天被我淘汰的檀黎斗，

像僵尸从坟墓中崛起...」

_ 「それお信じますか，九条 貴利矢？」 _

Whether I believe in your existence or not, would it make a difference?

I’m not the one who shapes the truth.

When I wake up from this dream,

when I learn of your existence after death,

I will chase you to the ends of this world.

It felt like a car crash, suddenly.

Initiating a collision.

Was it intentional?

A simple act of intimacy.

Was it with malice?

So warm,

So soft,

Does it impress you?

Who knew such a violent man had such soft lips.

The same could be said about yourself.

What was the purpose?

_ Who’s to say? _

Surely there is no love…?

_ Is an act of intimacy always defined with love? _

… Who’s to say?

_ I’ll wait for you then, _

_ I’ll wait for you to chase me to the ends of this world, _

_ and we’ll do it over and over and over again. _

And so it is written as such.

This is how the game is played.

Level 0,

This is how the game begins.


End file.
